Monday, October 30, 2017

Today we find ourselves so near the end we can taste it. Luckily for you, you might also soon be tasting these ooey-gooey strombolis. But before we get to that...

As I sat down to type this post, all I could think is how there's only one day more and then our month will be over. And when I think the phrase "one day more," I SING the phrase because it's kind of the huge ensemble musical number in my favorite musical Les Miserables and that's how my brain works.

Sitting here singing to myself, I started changing the words to suit my blog. And, well, I was having fun with it so I ended up doing the whole thing. Which means today is your lucky day because you are getting a recipe AND a parody song in a single post and omigodwhatcouldbebetterthanthat???

Here's the plain instrumental for when you want to perform this with friends karaoke-style. (What? Who wouldn't want to do that???) And also here's my favorite cast singing it with the actual words. Ah, sweet music!

"One Day More - of Bloggy Recipes for the Month of October"
Lyrics by Natalie MunroeMusic: Claude Michel Schonberg (OriginalLyrics: Herbert Kretzmer)

ME:

One day more.

Another day, another recipe.

This never-ending road of cal-or-iessss.

The people eating all these foods

Will surely still be in the mood

One day more!

YOU:

I do not eat this much

all year.

How can I do it

in October?

ME:

One day more!

YOU & YOUR SPOUSE:

Tomorrow I'll eat more I fear,

And yet, how can it all be over?

YOUR NEIGHBOR:

One more day of yummy food.

YOU & YOUR SPOUSE:

Will we ever eat again?

YOUR NEIGHBOR:

One more day of you not sharing!

YOU & YOUR SPOUSE:

I was born to eat this food!

YOUR NEIGHBOR:

What delights I might have known.

YOU & YOUR SPOUSE:

God, I love all of those foods!

YOUR NEIGHBOR:

If you'd only ever shaaaareeeedddd.

YOUR KID:

One more day before it's gone.

YOU:

Do I try to make my own?

YOUR KID:

I should stuff some in my sock drawer...

YOU:

Shall I check on Pinterest?

YOUR KID:

If I hide it really well

YOU:

Do I try, oh do I dare?

YOUR KID:

I could hide them in a tree

ALL:

The time is now,

the day is here!

ME:

One day more!

DOCTOR:

One more day of eating junk food.

You should all be so ashamed.

Don't you care about your waist line,

all that sugar in your veins!

ME:

One day more!

JUDGMENTAL PARENTS:

Watch 'em bust their seams,

Eating all them sweets.

Never paused for green beans,

Just kept eating treats.

Here a little cake

There a cookie, too,

Most of them are sick now

Still they're feeling blue!

NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS:

One day to a new beginning!

GYM FRIENDS:

It is time to exercise!

NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS:

We'll get candy pretty soon.

GYM FRIENDS:

They'll get candy pretty soon.

NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS:

There is new junk for the winning.

GYM FRIENDS:

Add some extra crunches on.

ALL:

Do you hear the people sing?

YOU:

I will-- go on-- to make my own!

ME:

One day more!

DOCTOR (overlapping)

We will watch these people's intake

We'll watch over what they eat

We will judge on every morsel

We will monitor each sweet.

YOU & YOUR SPOUSE:

I do not eat this much all year!

YOUR NEIGHBOR:

One more day of no more treats!

YOU & YOUR SPOUSE:

How can I do it in October?

ME:

One day more!

JUDGMENTAL PARENTS:

Watch 'em bust their seams,

Eating all them sweets.

Never paused for green beans,

Just kept eating treats.

DOCTOR:

One more day of eating junk food.

We must nip it in the bud.

You will care about your waist line

Tomorrow is the judgment day

ME:

Tomorrow we will feast our last,

Tomorrow is the judgment day

ALL:

Tomorrow we'll discover what our

bathroom weight scales have in store.

One more dawn.

One more day. One. Day. MORE.

***

I don't even care that having done that makes me a huge nerd. It was incredibly fun and I have neither regrets nor regerts. (Probably because I was NOT eating a Milky Way...)

Meanwhile, you're over there like, "What just happened here? I thought there were strombolis. She's obviously on some kind of sugar high from this month of baked sugar."

I can't argue that. So let's get on with the recipe part, shall we?

I know I already gave you a very solid dinner option for
tomorrow (aka All Hallow's Eve). The slow cooker meal most definitely IS your friend, and I stand by
it.

That said, maybe you don't have a ton going on during the
day on Halloween and/or you happen to have 35-45 free minutes to make dinner
(that's total time including both preparation and bake time). In that case, I offer
you this as another option. (In fact, this is also delicious reheated so,
theoretically, you could make it the night before and reheat and eat then.
That's an idea!)

This stromboli.

And until I discovered this recipe early
last week to make as a regular dinner, I didn't realize how simple it was to
make. WITH homemade dough! (Spoiler alert: it's rather easy.) I made
it and everyone loved it, especially as a fun change-up to pizza. (We eat pizza
once every 7-10 days here at my house because it's quick and easy and everyone
likes it, but it's always homemade pizza. Many times I use a store-bought dough
(my favorites are these and these) but I like control over the
toppings.) I followed the directions from Carlsbad Cravings' blog--which is a
fantastic blog. I've made several of her recipes and they're always flavorful,
with easy-to-follow directions. She's one of my go-to bloggers for non-dessert
items. I highly recommend checking out her site.

I was bummed because I was so impressed by this meal the
first time I made it that I wanted to share it on here. But stromboli as
"fall" food? Um...no.

Then, eureka! I saw this eyeball wrap while browsing my
saved Festive October pins. The look of it reminded me a lot of stromboli's pinwheel appearance.
EUREKA! I can make my stromboli look like an eyeball and it's magically
transformed into Halloween fare! HOLLA!!!!

So here it is.

I followed her recipe for the crust and the process and the
bake time, but I went rogue on the toppings. She put waaaaay more into her
stromboli than I ever would. Below, I've listed what I used. But by all means,
go see her fully-stuffed stromboli and then, when you make your own, you do
you!

Pepperoni and Cheese Stromboli

Adapted from Carlsbad Cravings 35 Minute No Wait No Rise Stromboli

Stromboli
Dough

1 3/4 - 2 1/4cupsof flour (start with 1 cup, then add more1/2
cup at a time. Both times I've made it, I've used 2 cups)

1envelope Fleischmann’s® Pizza Yeast (I found it in the baking aisle at my market.
It's sold in 3s. Which is a good thing
since you'll want to make this again and again!)

1 1/2teaspoonssugar

3/4teaspoonsalt

2/3cupof very warm water(120° to 130° F)

3tablespoonsolive oil

1egg, beaten(egg wash)

Toppings

1/2cupmarinara sauce (I use Contadina Pizza Squeeze on the stromboli itself, but I love
serving a side of additional sauce for dipping and I'm in love with the Prego
Sausage and Garlic flavor)

fresh or dried
herbs of your choice (I used fresh
oregano and parsley from my garden)

1 1/2 cupsshredded mozzarella cheese

1/2cupsshredded Parmesan cheese

9-15 slices deli pepperoni

Garnish

grated Parmesan
cheese

Garlic powder

extra pizza sauce
for dipping(optional)
(as I said, I LOVE the Prego Sausage
stuff. It's flavored well and offers extra meat for the stromboli)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet
with parchment or a silicon baking sheet. Set aside.

2. Make the dough.

In a mixer bowl, add 1 cup of flour, yeast (straight out of
the packet), sugar, and salt.

Add water and olive oil. (This smells so delicious!) Mix until blended.

The photo is mostly dark, but you can still make out the sticky texture & see it isn't in a ball yet

Add
flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough pulls together into a ball. The
dough will be slightly sticky, but should be formed and able to be handled.

Now it's coming together

Pour dough from bowl onto a floured surface. (I used a 15x10
glass cutting board for this step both times I made this, and I found it quite
helpful in the rolling step.) Knead dough for about 4 minutes, or until it's
smooth and pliable.

Use a rolling pin to roll out your dough in a rectangular
shape about 10x15 inches. (This is where it was so handy to have the cutting
board of the same size as my guide.)

3. Assemble stromboli.

Top dough with 1/2 cup of sauce. Spread it out so it covers
the dough but leaves at least an inch border.

Top sauce with shredded parmesan and mozzarella cheeses,
then herbs, finally topping with pepperoni.

4. Make an egg wash by wisking one egg in a small bowl or
measuring cup. Brush egg wash over the un-sauced edges of dough. Then roll the
dough lengthwise (like a jelly roll).

Once rolled, pinch and tuck the edges
closed. Brush the dough with egg wash. Cut air slats every inch or so.Sprinkle top with garlic powder, salt and
pepper, and grated cheese if desired.

5. Bake for 15-25 minutes (mine took 20 both times) or until
top is golden brown.

6. Allow to rest for 5 minutes prior to slicing. Cut right
along the pre-sliced slats. If making into eyeballs, arrange onto plate
preserving the pinwheel-type shape. (If necessary, pinch the ends of the slice
together so that it's more rounded and less oblong.) Place a pimento stuffed
olive in the center as an eyeball.

Serve with extra sauce for dipping and place it on the plate
as though it's an agape mouth.

If you make this as a non-Halloween meal, just skip the
olives and pile those delicious strips of stromboli right on your plate.

Music & a fab meal! What more could you want on a windy Monday? I can't think of anything, either.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Sunday is a day I want to sleep in. And, because of soccer,
it is the only day of the week I get to sleep in. (Ooh! But only 2 more weeks until the season ends!!!)

When I wake up, I want to laze around for a bit, sipping
coffee, looking at my friends' kids' photos on Facebook, watching a couple
Tasty videos. You know, stuff like that.

After that first cup of coffee (I have two a day), I want to meander into the kitchen in my pajamas and throw on my apron and whip up
something yummy.

Unfortunately, the neighborhood kids like to start knocking at 10:30 in the morning. I have to stop my internet browsing to
help my kids get on their roller skates. Then, when I head into the kitchen,
the kids who were supposedly playing with my kids like to come do secret knocks
on my front door and then run away, leaving notes on the doorstep. Oy. Can't a woman
just bake in peace, I ask you!?

Sigh.

I've been jonesing for some cranberry orange something for a
few days now. I originally thought I'd make some quick bread and had planned to
use Sally's Orange Glazed Cranberry Bread recipe. But as I was looking over the
recipe, I realized I didn't feel like making a glaze, and I wasn't in the mood
for a streusel topping (even though streusel is life). Then I realized I
didn't even want to make it in a loaf pan because that requires an hour
bake time AND is crumbly when it's time to serve (since, you know, it gets cut
into slices.) It occurred to me then that what I'd really like is some nice
cranberry orange mini muffins. Small. Poppable. No crumbs.

Thus, I adapted Sally's recipe. I cut out both toppings and subbed
in just a small sprinkle of coarse sugar on top for some crunch. I used dried
cranberries instead of fresh/frozen cranberries, and didn't add the optional
pecans, instead subbing in a half-cup of mini chocolate chips. I also cut back
the orange zest (from 2 Tablespoons to 1) and added in a small amount of orange
extract to bring up the orange flavor a tad. And, of course, I baked them as
mini-muffins instead of as a loaf.

Can I just say: oh man, these are SO. FLIPPING. GOOD.

Admittedly, I was starting to get kind of annoyed while I
was baking them. Like I said, there were several knocks at the door, plus, when
I make these recipes, I have to stop what I'm doing at every stage so that I
can snap a (dark, shadowy, amateurish) photo to share. Plus, with these, since I was not
following a recipe, I also did one pan as a test-run because I couldn't
remember how much batter I usually use in my mini-muffin cups. (The small or
the medium OXO scoop??? Spoiler alert: it's the small one.) So anyway, I was
getting sort of cranky about the whole affair.

Until that test tray came out of
the oven and I tasted one of these glorious mounds of happiness and knew that
yes, it was all worth it. Every knock. Every photo. Every dirty dish in my
sink. Because these little flavor bombs were everything I'd hoped they'd be.

2. In medium
bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, dried cranberries, and
mini chocolate chips. (Be sure to break up your dried cranberries because they
tend to like to hang out in clumps.) Set aside.

3. In
another medium bowl, whisk together both sugars, being sure to break up any
lumps. (I reach in with my hand to make sure no lumps are hanging out in
there.) Add the room temperature egg (it needs to be room temperature so that
it disperses properly in your sugar.) Whisk until smooth.

5. Slowly
add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. Whisk (or stir with wooden spoon) just until
all the dry ingredients are incorporated/moistened and no lumps remain. (Do not
overmix or your muffins get too dense.)

6. Spoon 2
teaspoons of batter (the equivalent of 1 small OXO scoop) to each mini muffin cup.
Sprinkle some turbinado sugar to the top of each muffin. (They're sweet enough without it, but I like the added crunch.)

7. Bake for
13-17 minutes, or until your muffins are golden and the centers spring back
when you gently press with your finger. (Start checking them at the earliest
time. Mine took about 16.)

8. Allow to
cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool entirely. Store in
airtight container.